Confirmation of the problem was given by an AMD spokesperson during an interview with Brad Chacos of PCWorld. In it Brad stated that he suffered from the bug on his computer after updating Radeon drivers. The representative’s response was as follows:
We have reproduced an issue that may occur in an extremely small number of instances if a PC refresh occurs while installing AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition, and are actively investigating.
According to AMD, the problem appears to be caused by the “Restore Factory Defaults” option that must be unchecked when installing the AMD Radeon Software: Adrenalin Edition update on the computer. If the installation is done during a Windows update, the system can restart in factory default mode, even deleting personal data from the PC.
AMD claims that it is already working on a fix for the problem and brings the following recommendations:
We recommend that users ensure that all system updates are applied or paused before installing the driver and that the “Factory Reset” option is unchecked during the AMD driver installation process. We are committed to resolving issues as quickly as possible and strongly encourage users to submit issues with AMD Software: Adrenalin Edition via the Bug Report Tool.
Therefore, it is always a good idea to check the Settings > Windows Update menu and verify that there are no updates available or being installed before updating AMD Radeon Software: Adrenalin Edition. AMD claims that only a small number of PCs should be affected by the bug, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
Finally, it is interesting to pause Windows updates, as some AMD drivers are provided through Windows Update, which could also cause the bug if a system update is implemented at the same time.